Areas of Interest

Mouse Models of Autism, Behavioral Phenotypes, Drug treatments

Research

Jacqueline Crawley is the Director of the IDDRC Rodent Behavior Core E. Dr. Crawley’s research program is focused on mouse models of autism to investigate hypotheses about causes and to discover effective treatments for the diagnostic symptoms. Her laboratory developed a constellation of mouse behavioral tests with face validity to the diagnostic and associated symptoms of autism, which has been widely adopted by the research community. Assays include social approach, reciprocal social interactions, social olfactory signals and responses, ultrasonic vocalizations, motor stereotypies, repetitive behaviors, perseveration, hyperactivity, anxiety-like, sensory reactivity, and cognitive abilities. Mouse models of neurodevelopmental disorders with intellectual disabilities are analyzed with subsets of these assays and an extensive set of learning and memory tasks. Pharmacological interventions that target pathways relevant to specific genetic mutations identified in monogenic neurodevelopmental disorders are evaluated in optimized mouse models. The mouse behavioral expertise of Dr. Crawley’s team is available to Users of the IDDRC Rodent Behavior Core.